Page 67 of Pretty Little Psycho

“Maureen’s not returning any of my texts,” I hiss.

“I think I pissed her off earlier. She’ll get over it,” Valentin replies.

“She better,” I snap. “I think we should do the claiming ritual after the Winter Solstice tomorrow night.”

“I’ll go find her and make sure she’s okay.” Atlas smooths his pale blond hair back off his dampened forehead. He really did get worked up down there. Fuck, this girl has got us all spinning.

Maybe I don’t hate her as much as I hate her family. But I can’t let my cock cloud my judgment. There are liars all around me and she could still very well be one of them.

But once she takes the mark of Nocturnus, once we brand her with our sigil… I fucking win and get justice for every Graves man and woman who came before me. I will spread their curse like a fucking disease and make sure that the Blackwell bloodline is forever tainted.

Atlas

I use my sight to track Maureen. I see her sitting on the floor between two aisles, a pile of books surrounding her. I hop on my bike and within minutes, I’m blazing into the parking lot of Graves Library. I ignore the stares and murmurs from various groups as I storm past them. Ever since Maureen got to Tenebrose I haven’t been able to focus on anything else. I deleted all the random girls’ numbers from my phone and ghosted all of them.

My father would keel over if he saw how I’ve been acting. And all because of one girl. Nah, he’d think I’ve lost my fucking mind. The Thorn men were not loyal to their women. Not in the sexual sense. Sure, he’d take a bullet for my mom, but then he’d turn around and fuck the first hot piece of ass who offered to nurse him back to health.

While Valentin’s father raised him to hate women, mine taught me to love them all. Literally. My cousins, Aries and Libra, had a similar upbringing, but their dad had a daughter to worry about. He eased up on the bachelor for life rhetoric a lot. But I am the only son of Pisces Thorn and he’d be damned if he saw me chasing after one girl.

I lean against the stacks, my arms crossed. “Hey, pretty girl. I’ve missed you.”

To my surprise, she glares up at me. “Fuck off, Atlas. I’m busy.”

A snort escapes me. “Oh, we’re back to this now, are we? Don’t make me bend you over right here and spank you. You know I will.”

She scrambles to her feet and starts gathering her books together. “Yeah, I’m sure you’d like everyone here to see that. Since humiliating me is what gets all three of you off.”

Fuck.

I run a hand through my hair. “You heard about the breach… we’re handling it.”

She spins around and gives me a hard shove. “Breach? Handling it? Fuck you. You tell everyone they’re not allowed to look at me, but then go around bragging about fucking me to the whole school. I’m tired of your games. Just leave me the fuck alone.”

What the fuck is she talking about? I grab her wrist. “We’ve done no such thing. Who told you that?”

Her cheeks flush and she looks down at the floor. “It doesn’t matter. I thought the three of you might be different. That despite all your psychotic tendencies, I meant something to you. Even Riot. I know he hates my family, but I thought maybe he didn’t hate me anymore. I guess I am just a stupid slut.”

I cup her face in my hands. “You’re our little slut. But you’re also our firecracker. Our… mate. We would never shame you like that. Someone is lying to you. Tell me who.”

This has to do with the breach at Nocturnus. I can feel it in my fucking bones. I can’t wait to find this fucker and feed him to my snake piece by piece.

Maureen’s eyes well with tears. “I don’t know what I am to any of you. I shouldn’t care. You, Riot, and Valentin are all a bunch of entitled assholes. The only things that matter to you are power and control.”

“That’s not true. You matter to us,” I quip back.

She snickers. “Yeah, my blood matters to you. Valentin told me you need a fourth for your twisted little coven. You need a Blackwell, so you can get payback. I should have known you were just using me from the start.”

I blow out a deep breath. I wish Val had waited to tell her until we were all together. She doesn’t understand the significance of the bond. I want to explain it, but she’s in no mood to listen. “Come with me, please. I want to show you something. Let me prove to you that you’re wrong about us.”

She looks at me like she wants to slap me. “Are you for real? I don’t trust you.”

“You will. I swear it. Just come with me,” I plead.

A surge of power shoots through my veins as I gaze into her exquisite, amber-colored eyes. I know she can’t resist me, though I feel her trying. But her fate and ours are tied now. We are connected by ancient feuds, bad blood, and now… poison.

“Give me something to believe you,” she commands.

I nod. “The poison. It’s my family’s legacy. And other than them, there are only three other people I’ve shared it with.”

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